Man shocked after 15 minute Uber trip costs him £35,000
An Uber customer had the hangover from hell when he woke to find he had been charged £35,000 for a 15-minute trip the day before.
We all know what it's like to awake after a night out to learn just how much we've spent on all those unexpected rounds of tequila shots and the 3am kebab with ALL the trimmings.
But one Brit had more post-party financial fear than usual when he realised he'd been billed tens of thousands for a short taxi ride.
Oliver Kaplan was travelling from Hyde to Ashton-under-Lyne to meet friends after work – a four-mile journey that he was quoted around £10 for.
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However, the next day he woke up not just with a hangover, but also a mammoth charge for the ride, finding Uber had tried to take £35,427.97 from his account.
Speaking to The Sun about the unfortunate mix-up, he said: “The driver took me exactly where I was meant to be going.
“It was a 15-minute journey tops and the bill was said to be between £10 and £11, charged to my debit card.
“But when I woke up hungover, the last thing I expected was a charge of over £35,000.
"It said the amount couldn’t be taken because I had insufficient funds. If I had that sort of money, I would have had to chase them for a refund.
"It could have landed me in all sorts of financial trouble.”
His Uber driver is thought to have mistaken the Ashton-under-Lyne in Tameside, Greater Manchester, for another place of the same name near Adelaide, South Australia – some 10,000 miles away.
Fortunately, Kaplan’s fare was later adjusted by Uber to a slightly more digestible £10.73.
He has now hard feelings about what happened, saying the taxi operator was ‘really good’ about the issue and resolved it immediately – no doubt leaving him to kick back and enjoy his hangover with a pizza instead of panicking about bankruptcy.
Kaplan added: “I’m still wondering how the location was even set to Australia, seeing as it is the other side of the globe.
“Thankfully, they were really good about it and made it right straight away but it was a stressful half-hour to say the least.”
Uber said in a statement: “We are very sorry for any inconvenience caused.”
LADbible has reached out to Uber for further comment.
Jess Hardiman